Last day I was getting ready for the university examination and just about when I was to leave home, my mom came and told me to wait. She said it was ‘rahukalam’ right then and wanted me to wait till it gets over. Unlike the cool youngsters you see on T.V and movies, I wasn’t able to tell mom to stop being stupid. I didn’t tell a word. Instead I waited peacefully for half an hour and made sure that I ‘am free from all the bad omens. It was an important exam, and I hadn’t even covered half the portions for the exam, but that doesn’t matter. I left my home at the most auspicious timing!

Even though I pretend to be a very rational human being, the truth is that I often give into a lot of such superstitions’ in my life. I don’t think I really believe in stuff like this, but nonetheless there is an agitation or fear related with all these omen stuffs. The ‘nail superstitions’ is one ritual I have been practising since ages. Years ago my grandmother told me not to cut the nails on Tuesdays and Fridays. Again don’t cut your nails at the night. And me, I never really cut my nails at all! Sick, but propitious! And another related ritual is not to cut your nails while exams are going on (I don’t know where I got this one from). Most of the exams will be at least a month long. Longer the exams, longer will be my nails.These superstitions work when they add up with my laziness. Then there is this bird omen. There is this particular kind of local bird; if you see them in even numbers your day will be good and if they appear in odd numbers, your day is gone. The bird is very common around our place and I was sure to see one or two every day. And so, counting the birds almost became daily function. Back when I was a kid, I remember waiting for more birds to come and add up to an even number. Even now, if I see that bird, I usually count them! Breaking the glass is considered ominous. And I get to break one or two every month. Its real bad omen and my mother gets a sad face. I have even managed to break some glasses in someone else’s house and have felt bad seeing their face go dull! Then the lizard omen, which I got from a movie,which is the most terrifying among all. If a lizard falls on your head, it means that you would die soon! And I remember going mad with fear, when one fucking lizard fall on me one night. I lost sleep for some three days! Thankfully I didn’t die.

Ill omens are all what matters. And if some good omens come on my way, I normally won’t mind it. The rational me would think “Come on you loser, nothing good ain’t gonna happen with you just because a bird showed up or something”. But when bad ones show up, I somehow losses all the courage..!
And vary rarely am I really cared about the ultimate result of an omen. It’s generally all about that moment when it shows up on you. Maybe I will never gain the courage to overcome that moment’s aversion. Well that really doesn’t matter much, does it?

Anyway, I fucked up that exam, even after doing everything righteously! Don’t know how that happened!!

It was one another post ‘football match’ evening time. I was extremely tired after the game. Football games are great exercise, especially when u doesn’t know how to play. Running, running and running behind a ball… ho, I never used sweat these much on physical exertions, well indeed, times are changing! So we played football and I was tired. And I wanted some refreshment, nothing big, just a soda surbath (lime juice) or something like that. It should be chilled and it should be drunk in one gulp! Fine, so you need minimum Rs. 5 for the whole deal. But all I have got is this one BIG note and a 5 rupee coin. The 5 rupee coin however, is special. It is the latest addition from the Reserve Bank of India and it is made of ferritic stainless steel (no small deal, you see!!!)! [the new coin, it could be easily mistaken for a 50 paisa coin] I got it one week ago from a KSRTC bus, and since then I was proudly conserving it, like a valuable collector’s item. I’ am not ready to give it away. So, I borrowed little money from my friends and had that soda surbath! All too proud me! And the next day, again I was put into the same thirsty situation and I didn’t want to borrow money this time. I had that BIG note still with me, but the shopkeeper, I know won’t be too pleased with that. Hey, so what, can’t I adjust a bit? A little bit of thirst is nothing. I canceled my refreshment for the day. All too proud (and thirsty) me, again!

So, for the weekend I came home (from the hostel) with the latest five rupee coin still in my wallet. I never spoiled a chance to show off my great collector item to one and all I met and I was never ready to spend it, neither in the bus, nor for the auto rickshaw nor anywhere else.

And…err..but, now, when I look into my wallet, I don’t see a fu*king trace of that all too great coin! Where the fu*k did it go?? I ‘am screaming. For my thirst, for my pain (!), I need the coin back!! May be mom took it and gave it to a beggar (obviously, mistaking it for a 50 paisa) or someone else took it for something else. Whatsoever, I need the coin back…….! WTF, who cares? The coin is gone..accept the truth…your coin is lost….!